An ex-soldier tries to uncover the circumstances of his best friend's death. Fergus and Frankie met on the first day of school and the pair stayed close from then on. Both had a career in the military, and when Fergus left the SAS and landed a lucrative job with a private security firm in Baghdad, he persuaded Frankie to join him. In 2007 Fergus is back home in Liverpool, and learns that Frankie has been killed on Route Irish, the dangerous road running between Baghdad airport and the city's Green Zone. Raging with grief and highly suspicious of the official explanation of events, Fergus begins his own investigation with the help of Frankie's widow, Rachel.